CircleRecs beta

Privacy notice

Last updated: 22 July 2026

The German version is the legally binding version.

1. Controller and privacy contact

The controller for CircleRecs is Axel Springer Deutschland GmbH, Axel-Springer-Straße 65, 10888 Berlin, Germany, telephone +49 30 2591 0. For product questions, contact support@circlerecs.com.

You can contact the data protection officer at Axel Springer Deutschland GmbH, Datenschutz, Axel-Springer-Straße 65, 10888 Berlin, or by email at datenschutz@axelspringer.de.

2. Website access and necessary browser storage

When you access the website and API, our hosting and security services process information such as your IP address, timestamp, requested URL, referrer, HTTP headers, browser and device information, response status, and error details. This is necessary to deliver the app, fix errors, and prevent misuse. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Technical backend logs are generally deleted after 30 days.

On our own website, CircleRecs uses no advertising cookies and no third-party user tracking; for affiliate and booking links to partners and the redirect involved, see section 8. We only store information required for features you request: your language choice in a cookie for up to one year, sign-in and session information in session storage, your last selected circle in local storage, and a map position you choose to share in session storage. Access to this browser storage is based on Section 25(2) TDDDG. We do not show a cookie banner while we use only this necessary storage.

3. Waitlist, account, and social features

For the private-beta waitlist, we process your email address, language, signup source and time, delivery status, and waitlist status. We do this on the basis of your consent under Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. You may withdraw it for the future at any time by contacting support@circlerecs.com.

When you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive the relevant account identifier and the basic information you release, such as email address, name, and profile image. In the app, we also process your profile and visibility settings, links you voluntarily add to your social profiles, circles, roles, invitations, chats, reactions, notification preferences, follows and blocks, recommendations, personal Want and Pass places, photos, Ask conversations, votes, and reports. This is necessary to provide the beta under Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. We rely on Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR for security, misuse prevention, and technically necessary product improvement.

If you enable push notifications in the iOS app, we store a random installation identifier, the APNs device token issued by Apple, the development or production environment, bundle and app version, and optionally your language and time zone. We use this only to deliver and troubleshoot your Circle notifications. The app attempts to remove the registration when you sign out, and it is deleted with your account. Apple processes the data needed for delivery under its own terms.

Content in private circles is visible to their active members. If you make your profile public, your public profile, recommendations intended for that profile, and social-profile links you voluntarily add may also be visible outside your circles and without sign-in. Private profile areas, private places, chats, blocks, and import previews are not displayed publicly.

4. Location and voice input

The map requests your location only after you actively allow it in the browser or operating system. The position is used on your device to position the map. If you then use Ask for nearby recommendations, the visible map centre is sent with your question to the CircleRecs backend and the AI service described in section 5. We use this context for the current answer and do not store it as a location history. You can withdraw permission at any time in your browser or iOS settings, or move the map to a different area before using Ask.

The web app renders maps with the locally embedded open-source library MapLibre GL. It retrieves the map style and map tiles directly from OpenFreeMap. OpenFreeMap therefore receives technically necessary request data such as your IP address, browser and device information, and the requested map areas. Our backend sends place searches, including the search term and location context, to the Nominatim service on openstreetmap.org; its place data comes from OpenStreetMap contributors. We also use a place catalogue from the Overture Maps Foundation that has been imported into our database. Searching that catalogue does not send queries or user data to Overture. The iOS app displays maps with Apple MapKit and can open places in Apple Maps. Apple may process the technically necessary map requests and, if you grant location access, location data under its own privacy terms.

Voice input, for example in Ask or when writing a recommendation note, uses your browser's speech-recognition service or Apple Speech in the iOS app. The provider may process audio under its own terms; where the device supports it, the iOS app requests on-device recognition as well. If you accept the displayed AI notice and use voice, the iOS app sends the short recording through our encrypted backend connection to OpenAI so names and places can be transcribed more reliably. CircleRecs does not retain the raw recording; temporary files are discarded after the request. The transcript and any content you save from it are processed like other product data. Voice is optional and you can always type instead.

5. AI and semantic search

OpenAI converts recommendation text and relevant location context into numerical representations called embeddings. These embeddings and limited search metadata are stored in a Pinecone index. Original data and access rights in our database remain authoritative. Search queries are restricted to circles you are authorised to access.

Ask and AI-assisted place capture use an AI system. When you use these features, you are interacting with an AI system rather than a person. Answers and editable suggestions are created automatically from your input, recent conversation context where relevant, and matching sources, and are not editorially reviewed before you see them. The original recommendations remain visible as sources. AI output may be incomplete or wrong. CircleRecs does not make decisions based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects for you.

6. Google data

Google sign-in and Google import are separate features. Import starts only when you explicitly connect it. Depending on the export Google provides, we may process collection and place names, links, available notes, and place information. OAuth tokens are encrypted before database storage.

Import candidates remain private. Unselected candidates and personal Want places are not semantically indexed for circle search. Only if you later publish a place as your own recommendation is your CircleRecs content processed as described in section 5. You can reset the Google connection and stored import data at any time in the Google import area of the app, ask support to remove it, or delete your CircleRecs account.

We use information received from Google APIs only for the import and sign-in features visible to you. We do not sell it, use it for advertising, or use it to train general-purpose AI models. Human access is allowed only when you explicitly request support, where needed for security, or where required by law. Our use and transfer adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Sharing of Google user data. We do not share, transfer, or disclose the data we receive through Google APIs, including collections, places, links, and notes imported through the Google Data Portability API, as well as Google sign-in data, to any third party, and we do not sell it, except: (a) to our service providers acting on our instructions solely to host and secure this data on our behalf, namely Amazon Web Services (storage and database) and Vercel (delivery of the web frontend); (b) when you explicitly consent to the sharing; (c) where strictly necessary to detect, prevent, or address security, fraud, or technical issues; or (d) where required by law or necessary to protect legal claims. We do not share this data with advertising, analytics, or data-broker services, and we do not use it to train general-purpose AI models. If you later explicitly publish an imported place as your own recommendation, the resulting CircleRecs content is processed as described in section 5.

Protection of your data, including sensitive data. Data is transmitted only over encrypted connections (TLS/HTTPS). Data at rest is stored on access-restricted infrastructure with encryption at rest. Google OAuth tokens are additionally encrypted at the application level before they are stored. Access to Google user data is limited to legitimate purposes on a least-privilege basis and is controlled and logged. Import candidates remain private until you explicitly publish them. You can reset an existing Google connection, import tokens, and stored import data at any time in the Google import area of the app, ask support to remove them, or delete your Circle Recs account.

7. Public community tips

The Celeb Map contains community tips clearly labelled as unverified about past visits to public hospitality venues. We process the public person's name, the venue, optional context, an optional public link, votes, reports, and internal details about the submitting account. Sources are signed-in community members and any public information they choose to link. We do not display live locations and do not allow private or sensitive places.

The legal basis is our legitimate interest in a moderated inspiration feature transparently labelled as unverified under Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Affected persons may object or request correction or deletion through our public notice form or by contacting datenschutz@axelspringer.de. Reported tips are temporarily hidden during review. A reporter's contact details are not displayed publicly.

8. Affiliate and booking links

Some recommendations may contain booking links to partners, for example GetYourGuide. These links are advertising: if you complete a booking through them, Axel Springer Deutschland GmbH may receive a commission. This does not create any additional cost for you. We label such links accordingly in the app.

When you open such a link, we generate a server-side redirect to the partner and append a pseudonymous tracking code to the destination URL. We use this code only internally to attribute a resulting booking to the recommendation and circle that prompted it and to award community points. The code does not contain clear names readable by third parties. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in funding and gamifying the service under Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.

After the click you leave CircleRecs and are on the partner's website. The partner is independently responsible for the processing that takes place there and may set its own cookies and process data under its own privacy policy. We do not set our own advertising or tracking cookies in your browser for these purposes.

9. Recipients and transfers

Depending on your visibility settings, other circle members, followers, or internet users receive access to content intended for them. Our technical providers are Amazon Web Services for sign-in, databases, storage, live features, email, and logs; Vercel for the web frontend; Google for sign-in and the Data Portability import you initiate; Apple for sign-in, MapKit and Apple Maps, native speech recognition, and push delivery; OpenFreeMap for map styles and tiles; the Nominatim service on openstreetmap.org for place searches; OpenAI for AI, embeddings, and transcription; Pinecone for semantic search; Dash0 for technical observability; and Hostinger for the support mailbox. MapLibre GL runs as a local software library and does not itself receive user data. Place data from the Overture Maps Foundation is imported into our own catalogue; search queries are not sent to Overture. We may also disclose data to authorities or other bodies where legally required or necessary to protect legal claims.

Some providers may process data outside the European Economic Area. Where a third-country transfer occurs, we rely, depending on the recipient, on an adequacy decision, including the EU-US Data Privacy Framework for certified recipients, or appropriate safeguards under Art. 46 GDPR, in particular EU Standard Contractual Clauses and any necessary supplementary measures. You can obtain information about the safeguards used from the data protection officer.

10. Retention and deletion

We delete waitlist entries when you withdraw or no later than 12 months after signup unless you accept an invitation and create an account. Browser data ends with the session or the storage period stated above. Technical backend logs are generally retained for 30 days. Database backups expire after seven days unless longer retention is legally required.

Product data remains stored while your account is active or while required for the service, misuse prevention, legal defence, or legal obligations. You can delete individual content and your account in the app. Account deletion removes associated active product data, media, Google import data, and semantic search documents; remaining backup copies expire according to the backup schedule. We retain reports and moderation communication only as long as necessary for review, legal defence, and legal obligations.

11. Your rights and complaints

Subject to the legal requirements, you may request access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability, or object to processing. You may withdraw consent at any time for the future. Contact datenschutz@axelspringer.de.

You may also complain to a data protection authority, in particular the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, Alt-Moabit 59-61, 10555 Berlin, email mailbox@datenschutz-berlin.de.

You are not legally required to provide data. Without an email address, we cannot add you to the waitlist; without a supported Apple or Google account, we cannot create a beta account; and without the input required for a particular feature, we cannot perform that feature. All additional profile, place, and content information is optional.